Middlesborough Home Drew 1 – 1
An improved performance at Liverpool by all accounts (and thanks to John for his!) but it would have been the poor effort at Hull that persuaded Mr. Still into key defensive changes for the visit of Middlesbrough: Bazunu, Roerslev, Harwood-Bellis and Stephens the casualties as Southampton went with a back three of Edwards, Wood and Quarshie. Boro, though, are top of the league and started strongly with ex-Saint Targett striking the post from a free kick, suggesting McCarthy got the position of his ‘wall’ wrong. They didn’t do a lot more in the opening period after that as the home side forced their way back into the game, and Azaz, who started the season in Boro colours, of course, should have done better with a lucky chance presented when penalty area billiards worked for him. It has to be said, though, that there wasn’t a lot happening for either side and, after the stalemate in the local derby, it was a surprise when we had a goal, scored very nicely by Armstrong with a first-time left foot shot – being the best of our mis-firing forwards doesn’t always get him a start, but it’s better when he gets a game. The visitors responded with three changes and soon began to find space down their right which Saints did nothing to counter. They equalised via that route after 78 minutes with Ayling feeding substitute Sėne who got lucky with a shot that was deflected over McCarthy off Wood’s attempted block. Shared points was a fair enough result, but Saints would have shaded a ‘points’ decision; we bought on the unlucky Robinson, who has suffered from our late transfer dealings, in an attempt to win the game and a stack of late bookings for Middlesbrough suggested that they were the more content with the status quo.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
9. Adam Armstrong for a well-taken goal.
17. Joshua Quarshie. Seems to have learned from his error-strewn performance at Ipswich – if so, he’ll be a great asset.
24. Shea Charles, now the clear first choice amongst our midfield options.
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